The underlying message of the Gospel is the promise of God’s abundant love and mercy which is offered to even the worst sinners.
A special devotion and message of Divine Mercy began in the 1930s when Jesus appeared to a Polish nun who wrote about the encounters in her diary.
Jesus asked Sister Mary Faustina Kowalska to paint the now familiar image of how Jesus appeared to her and which reminds us that Jesus always comes to us asking us to place our trust in Him.
During her encounters, St. Faustina received a special prayer from Jesus that promises great graces when asking God’s mercy for us and for the whole world.
A powerful Divine Mercy novena is also prayed using this chaplet, popularly prayed for nine days and starting on Good Friday. Another special prayer is prayed at 3:00 PM, when Jesus died for us on the Cross.
Jesus also asked St. Faustina for a special feast, which was established by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Divine Mercy Sunday is now celebrated by the Church on the Sunday after Easter.
Presenting the theme of mercy in a whole new way:
Making all of us missionaries of mercy:
“His mercy is from age to age to those who fear Him. He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry He has filled with good things; the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Luke 1: 50-55
The visions of a young nun:
Understanding and living out mercy:
An image that brings a deeper appreciation of God’s mercy:
Indeed, mercy is the central nucleus of the Gospel message; it is the very name of God, the face with which He revealed himself in the Old Covenant and fully in Jesus Christ, the incarnation of creative and redemptive Love. May this merciful love also shine on the face of the Church and show itself through the sacraments, in particular that of Reconciliation, and in works of charity, both communitarian and individual. May all that the Church says and does manifest the mercy God feels for man, and therefore for us. When the Church has to recall an unrecognized truth or a betrayed good, she always does so impelled by merciful love, so that men and women may have life and have it abundantly. From Divine Mercy, which brings peace to hearts, genuine peace flows into the world, peace between different peoples, cultures and religions.
Pope Benedict XVI, Regina Caeli, 30 March 2008
Sources of Divine Mercy:
Words of Divine Mercy:
The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners. The angel announced to Joseph: “You shall call his name Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins.” The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: “This is my Blood of the Covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1846
A call to be merciful in a merciless world:
Receiving the graces of Divine Mercy Sunday:
The devotional aspects of the message of Divine Mercy:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
A missionary path reversed:
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